GAINESVILLE, Fla. ? The University of South Alabama women’s tennis team will head to the Sunshine State for a pair of matches this weekend. On Friday, USA will face the fourth-ranked Florida Gators at 4 p.m. (Central) at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex. The Lady Jags will also face Sun Belt Conference foe Florida International at Noon in Gainesville on Saturday.
Live stats for the match versus the Gators on Friday can be accessed at www.gatorzone.com/tennis/women/.
The Jaguar women, ranked No. 75 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll, are coming off their first victory of the season. In its last match, USA defeated No. 73 Southeastern Louisiana in a thrilling 4-3 decision in Mobile. With the contest tied at 3-3, sophomore Michaela Babicova outlasted SELU’s Iva Velkouska in a three-set marathon. Velkouska took the first set 7-5, but Babicova bounced back and captured sets two (7-6 and three (7-5) to give the Jags the one-point victory.
USA is 1-2 on the spring season and is led in singles competition by Babicova. The Piestany, Slovakia native is 3-0 in both singles and doubles competition during the dual-match season. She is 11-2 overall and 10-3 with her doubles partner Dijana Stanic.
The Lady Gators come into the match versus the Jaguar women with a perfect 3-0 record. In its last match, UF almost had its 44 regular season home match win streak snapped against No. 8 North Carolina. The Gators were able to pull off the 4-3 victory and extend the streak. The Gators last regular season setback at Linder Stadium was on April 7, 2002, when Georgia defeated Florida, 4-3.
Florida opened the season with a pair of 7-0 victories against Stetson and Central Florida. The match with USA will be the first in over a week for the Lady Gators. UF had previously been ranked No. 2 in the nation, but dropped this week because it did not play.
In singles action, UF currently has three players ranked by the ITA. Diana Srebrovic, ranked 11th, is 2-1 this spring and 7-4 overall. True freshman Megan Alexander (No. 95) moved into the singles rankings this week after starting the dual season with a perfect 3-0 mark. She is also 11-2 on the season. Whitney Benik is also ranked for the Gators, coming in at No. 78. The UF doubles teams of Benik/Nina Suvak (No. 14) and Lolita Frangulyan/Srebrovic (No. 32) are also nationally ranked.
The Gators sport a 2-0 all-time record versus South Alabama, with the last meeting being a 7-0 win for UF on Jan. 26, 2003. The other match was a 5-0 Gator victory in the quarterfinals of the 1999 NCAA Championship held in Gainesville.
Saturday’s opponent, FIU, is ranked No. 32 in the latest poll. The two-time defending Sun Belt Conference Champions are also a perfect 3-0 on the young season, having captured wins over Princeton, Penn State and No. 42 N.C. State. The Golden Panthers picked up a 4-3 victory of their own against the Wolfpack in their last match on Feb. 4.
For her efforts, junior netter Egle Petrauskaite was named the Sun Belt Conference’s Woman Tennis Player of the Week this week. Petrauskaite, ranked No. 95 by the ITA, has started off the 2007 dual-match season undefeated in all three singles and three doubles matches. In singles play, she has not dropped a single set in any of her three matches at the No. 2 position.
